"Like Everquest without all the mind-numbing work."

Seriously. It is. They both have no plot. You can play both on-line. The only difference is that one requires vast hours paying attention to your character tromping over endless fields and running back and forth to town while the other...you can minimize and let play while you sleep. Using the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) theory, one could argue that this is the perfect RPG for the lazy man and the beginning RPG fan. Why else is it perfect? Why did I give such a shallow game a ten? Because it's all a big joke. PQ never set out to be epic or engrossing. It set out to be a diversion and something to look at when your bored. And that it does. Perfectly.

SOUND - 10/10

Not much to say. There is NO sound. There's nothing to distract you while your doing other things. Not even a ''level-up'' or ''quest completed'' noise. Utter silence. And that's great. I don't need little bloops and bleeps distracting me when I'm busy bringing the swift hand of justice down upon trolls at GameFAQs. It does it's own thing nice and quietly.

GRAPHICS - 10/10

A nice, simple interface. It features quiet grey tones and a simple shade of blue. Nothing made to blind you with color or even do much standing out apart from your typical interface. Heck, it might even pass for a regular window if your playing it at work.

You: ''Dum dee dum..''

Boss: ''What's that, Jhonson? What's a Vorpal Brandyclef?''

You: ''Oh..ah..that's the code name for my..new um..client.''

Boss: ''Keep up the good work.''

You: ''Woo!''

And so on, and so forth. In any case, it's nothing too blinding or dull. Great for something your not going to stare at all day.

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

This is where our little ''game'' really shines. Take an RPG. Strip down alllll the work of going to town, tapping ''A'' to input your commands for talking, fighting, etc and there you have it. Your left with stats to look at. All you do is watch the blue progress bar fill up and every so often your blessed with a new level, some equipment or some wacky magic spell such as ''Seasickness'' or ''Rabbit Punch''. It's great! All of the reward with none of the work to it. It's perfect in it's simplicity. The most work you have to put into this is naming your character. And you can even play online and try to climb the ladder and end up as the number one player! Show off your +55 Vorpal Dancing Longsword! Progress Quest is a game perfect in it's simplicity. It sets out to be nothing more than a mere distraction and a quirky little program for you to download. That's what it is.